How to install and setup ArcDPS for WvW

Today I am going to show you how to install ArcDPS and how you can set it up to give you the most critical information for World vs. World. It's rather straight forward, so I will try to keep this short but informative.

First a short disclaimer that generally using add-ons in Guild Wars 2 is something that is at your own risk. That being said, ArcDPS is within the Terms of Service that Guild Wars 2 has in regards to reading information directly from the game and has previously been cleared by ArenaNet for use.

Installation

Before we start the installation, then please note that this is just an installation of ArcDPS. If you are other addons you should look up how you make them work together or use something like the Unofficial Guild Wars 2 Addon Manager to install all your add-ons. There is a link in the description for that.

In order to install ArcDPS you want to go to deltaconnected.com/arcdps, you can find the link in the description. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the "x64: Current"-link. From here download the d3d9.dll file.

Before doing this next step, make sure to shut down Guild Wars 2 if you have it running currently.

Once the file has downloaded, open your Guild Wars 2 installation directory and put the d3d9.dll file in the "bin64" folder and that is it.

Start Guild Wars 2 and you should see the ArcDPS window show up. If it does not, try clicking Alt + Shift + T to open the options window for ArcDPS.

It should also be noted, that you need to make sure to update ArcDPS whenever there is a new patch in the game. A lot of times it will cause the game to crash if it is not updated.

Setting it up

Once you have ArcDPS installed, setting it up to give you the maximum benefit requires a bit more than just a DPS meter. With the following setup, you can monitor cleanses and boon strips in your squad and even DPS more accurately for World vs. World scenarios. It will also sort of tell you whenever you are about to encounter skill lag, allowing you to adapt your game play if necessary.

Before you start, make sure you enter World vs. World since ArcDPS supports different setups for different game modes.

First we setup our DPS meter. If you don't already have a DPS meter window shown then click Shift + Alt + T to open the options window and click the arrow next to "Area Stats". Here you want to check on window 0. Once the DPS window is open, right click on the top bar of it where it says "Damage". Now go into "Stats exclude" and turn on "vs NPCs" and "vs Gadgets". This improves the accuracy of your DPS meter to only take other players into account rather than NPCs such as guards or lords and it also filters out any damage done against siege. Repeat this process 2 more times to prepare for a boon strip and cleanses window.

Once you have 3 windows set up, choose one of them that you want to use for squad boon strips. Simply right click the top bar and choose "sort advanced" and pick the setting "strips squad current". This window now tracks boon strips rather than DPS.

To get the cleanses window, right click the top bar of your third DPS meter window, click "sort advanced" and pick "cleanses squad current". Now you also have a cleanses window.

If you are like me and primarily play only a scourge you can choose to only run 2 windows, DPS and Strips. And if you are a Firebrand, it would make the most sense to run only DPS and Cleanses. You can also always run all three, if you want to have the complete overview of your squad.

We now want to enable Self Stats which is a window that will show your outgoing DPS, Healing and Barrier. The reason we want to show this is because you can't accurately track barriers and healing across ArcDPS to compare to other people, but you can at least track your own to get an idea of how you are performing. Open the options with Shift + Alt + T and check on the "Self Stats". If you do not apply barriers, you can choose to hide it by right clicking the top bar of the self stats window and removing the check mark next to barrier.

You are almost there, we got one last step.

Open your options, if you haven't done so yet, and enable the "metrics" window. This will show you 3 values: F, P and R. F is your current FPS. P is your current Ping and R is kind of like the FPS of the server. R is the most important value here. If it goes below 20, it will turn red and you will most likely start experiencing skill lag. This can happen even before you engage in the fight, allowing you to prepare yourself and do any adjustments to your playstyle that you feel is necessary, without being caught off guard by the skill lag.

Conclusion

That is all, you now have a fully function World vs. World oritented ArcDPS setup. Remember to not be an idiot with ArcDPS, use it for constructive evaluation instead of bashing on other players. I personally use it to improve my own gameplay and get an overall feel of how our squad is performing without focusing on other individuals specifically.

We have a community over on discord that you should feel free to join if you have any questions you need answered or just want some new friends to hang out with online. You will find the invite in the description.

I stream on twitch monday, thursday and friday, so please drop by on twitch.tv/rediche and drop me a follow.